The Fate of Love
by Feyth
Summary: SD4/ Legend of Mana fic: After the quest "Teardrop Stone", the heroine finds the Sword of Mana. Will she allow fate to guide her to the Mana Tree, or is something holding her back? A short, sweet heroine/Elazul romance.


**The Fate of Love**  
by Marron 

Her dreams that night were filled with flowerlings and sproutlings, dancing apricats, and the sparkle that every Jumi core had regained.  
  
All of her fear, her hate, her sadness had been too much to bear, and she had cried. _"Those who shed tears for the Jumi shall turn to stone. It is a curse that forbids contact with the Jumi."_ The legend had been true; the moment the tears fell from her eyes, she turned to stone.   
  
_"Rubens, Esmerelda, Diana... Everyone is dead. And... Elazul, too. All of them dead."_ She had murmured just as she began to feel the strange tingling in her body as she turned to stone. She did not know, as her tears fell and darkness enshrouded her, that her tears had brought back to life the entire Jumi race, and restored the sparkle to their cores, restored their ability to shed healing tears. All she knew was the sadness she felt for the loss of her friends.  
  
The sproutling who lived in the front yard of her home had told her that those with a pure heart, those capable of love and imagination, could go to a whole new world. That world was nothing but an undulating ache in her heart and a sorrow that she had been afraid to show; espeically when she had found out that it had be Elazul who shed the healing tears to cure her petrification.  
  
She woke up from the dream, her vision still clouded with memories of the events of the previous week. She lay there, silently, for the longest time, her arms wrapped around the long hilt of an ancient blade that the sproutling had led her to as soon as she came home from the Bejewled City. The Sword of Mana. It was her destiny to use the Sword to find the Mana Tree, and bring back its bounty to Fa'Diel.  
  
"Are you up there?" A voice called to her from downstairs, causing her to blink away her thoughts of the fate that awaited her.  
  
"Elazul." She spoke his name as he climbed the stairs to her room, but did not move from the warmth and security of her bed. "Why have you come?"  
  
He sat down on the edge of her bed and stared at her, studying her sad eyes before glancing downard to study the sword she cradled in her arms. "Lisa sent a note to Etansel. She said you had not come out of your room since you came home. I came as soon as I could to see if you were all right."  
  
"You shouldn't have." She protested.  
  
"But I did."  
  
A heavy silence fell between them. She had no idea how to respond to him, what to say. She didn't want him to be there, for fear that she might cry again and turn to stone once more; but on the other hand, she wished that he was closer to her than he already was. Finally, Elazul cleared his throat and broke the silence. "What is that?" He asked of the sword, his curiosity getting the best of her.  
  
She could feel the tears forming in her eyes, but she didn't struggle to stop them. "The Sword of Mana." She confessed, her tears wetting her cheeks. She waited to turn to stone again, but she did not. Maybe it was because she had already witnessed that fate, or perhaps it was because she was crying more for her selfish wants than anything else.  
  
"The map to the Tree of Mana? You've found the Sword?" Elazul asked, both amazement and surprise showing in his voice. He looked down at her, and frowned at her turned face, and the tears that fell to her pillow. "If..." He hesitated to find the right words, "if you could touch the stone of Mana in the tree's sanctuary, what would you wish for?"  
  
She laughed, short, loud, bitter. "What I would wish for, I cannot have." She all but spat, and was only quiet for a moment before returning the question. "What would you wish for if you could touch the stone of Mana?" She whispered.  
  
She looked up at him and saw that he was thoughtful. He stared straight into her eyes, his night blue pools sparkling with an emotion she did not recognize. "I too cannot have what I would wish for."  
  
She sat up finally, still looking him eye to eye, and put the Sword aside. "What would you wish for? For Pearl's love?"  
  
"No." He answered honestly. "I would not wish for her love. I would wish for yours." His handsome, strong arms reached out and pulled her to him, enfolding her in his warm embrace. "I know that I could never have your love, not as anything more than a friend, but I've confessed this feeling to you for a reason. I would not want you to go to the Mana Sanctuary alone, but I cannot go with you, because if I had the chance to touch the stone, I would selfishly wish for your love. You, on the other hand, the pure-hearted, unselfish, and gentle savior of the Jumi, would wish for peace among all peoples, an end to hatred, an end to war; you would wish for something that is possible."  
  
"Elazul..." She said the only word that would come to her lips as she rested her head against his chest, her face a hare's breath away from his lapis lazuli core.  
  
"Let me take you to Etansel, and we will ask Blackpearl if she wil go with you. She can be as your knight." Despite himself, Elazul did not let go of her, even after he finished speaking.  
  
"But Pearl is your guardian," she protested.  
  
"No more. Since Pearl has remembered who she truly is, she's not the same. She's more like Blackpearl even when she is not Blackpearl. Since Blackpearl is a knight, I am no longer needed." His voice was soft and sad. "I am a knight without a guardian, a rogue amongst my kind."  
  
"Then be my knight, Elazul." She whispered, wrapping her arms around him, even as he still held her. "Knowing that you share the love that I have for you will give me strength enough to let the Sword of Mana guide me to my destiny. I had never been anywhere beyond Domina before meeting you, and the only way I can thank you for that is to be by your side as your guardian."  
  
Elazul said nothing for a long time. He had not expected his confessed feelings to be returned. "The sword won't guide you to your destiny." He spoke finally.  
  
"It won't?"  
  
"No, it will lead us to ours." 

_The End_


End file.
